Chair bracket



Nov. 4, 1969 A. MOTL ET AL 3,476,342

CHAIR BRACKET Filed Jan. 26, 1968 L4 IVENTORS no.3 mm m JAMES H. LITTLEPAGE United States Patent C 3,476,342 CHAIR BRACKET Anton Mot], Belton, Tex., and James H. Littlepage, Washington, D.C., assignors to Griggs Equipment, Inc., Belton, Tex., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 700,810 Int. Cl. F16m 11/20; A47c 7/00 US. Cl. 248-188 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bracket for securing U-shape chair legs to the bottom of a chair, characterized by extreme strength and rigidity, is formed by two pieces of metal welded together face-to-face. One piece is essentially a flat strip angled upwardly and thence outwardly at its ends. The other piece is also essentially a flat strip with an end wall and a tongue angling downwardly and thence outwardly at each end, the strip having a flange welded at its ends to the end walls to provide a box-like configuration.

PRIOR ART Ragsdale 1,914,344; Miller 2,098,752; Freeman 2,472,- 579; Strange, Ir. 2,794,496; Lapin et al. 2,999,662; and Cohen Des. 182,790.

OBJECTS The primary object of this invention is to provide a bracket for securing the bights of U-shape legs to the bottom of a chair, and for serving as a base for securing other members, such as a desk, to the chair, which bracket is formed by two easily fabricated pieces of metal welded together to achieve great strength and rigidity. In brackets of this sort, great bending stresses are imposed when, for example, the occupant leans back in the chair, and unless the bracket has great resistance to bending, the chair assembly is liable to be deformed. The object now is to provide a mounting bracket, which functions as a rigid strut between the chair legs and which has particularly great resistance to deformation at the regions to which the chair legs are welded.

A particular object is the provision of a bracket which lends itself to assembly procedures in automatic welding apparatus, namely, by forming the bracket of originally separate parts which may be placed in an automatic welding machine, then welded to the bights of U-shape chair legs, and finally welded together.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification and drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective, partly exploded view of two brackets positioned below a chair bottom shown in phantom lines, and with chair legs fragmentarily shown;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the two parts of the bracket, in perspective, ready to be welded first t the bights of the U-shape chair legs and then together;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the bracket; and,

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along the lines 4--4 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawing, in which like reference numerals denote similar elements, brackets 2 are for mounting the bights 4 of generally U-shape chair legs 6 on the bottom of a chair seat 8. Since both brackets 2 are identical, only one will be detailed. Each bracket 2 is a two-part device composed of a bridge piece 10 and an angle piece 12 which are eventually spot welded as at 14 in face-to-face engagement so that the span of the bridge piece is of double thickness throughout most of its length. Bridge piece 10 consists of a fiat strip of metal having an intermediate section 16, an upwardly angled end wall 18, and an outwardly extending tongue 20. At the corners between intermediate sections 16 and end 'ice walls 18 conventional stiifening ridges are formed, and bolt holes are punched in tongues 20 for attachment to chair seat 8, by bolts, not shown. Ridges 26 are stamped adjacent the outer ends of strip 16 in accordance with standard resistance welding practices, and locating holes 28 are punched in the intermediate section 16.

Angle piece 12 consists of a flat intermediate section 30 having at each end a downwardly angled end wall 32 and an outwardly extending tongue 34. An integral flang 36 coextensive with and along one side of intermediate section 30 has in-turned tabs 38 at each end spot welded to end walls 32 so that intermediate section 30, end walls 32 and flange 36 form four sides of a six-sided box. In tongues 34 are stamped ridges 42, like ridges 26, and locating holes 44 are punched in strip 30 to match with holes 28 in strip 16. Bolt holes 46 may be punched in flange 36 so that other elements, such as connecting pieces for a desk, may be attached to the chair bottom. Since two sides of the box formed by angle piece 12 are open, free access to holes 44 and 46 is afforded.

In operation, bridge piece 10 and angle piece 12, which have been separately formed, are placed in an automatic welding machine prior to being welded together. Tongues 34 of angle piece 12 are held on one side of the chair leg bights, with the end walls 32 engaging the chair bights, and the outer end portions of strips 16 are placed on the other side of the chair leg bights. Then the two pieces are resistance welded to the chair leg bights and, finally, the two pieces 10 and 12 are spot welded together as at 14. This procedure saves appreciable cost in the welding operation, and is particularly advantageous where some other part is to be connected to the bracket as, for example, where the bracket is used for a chair having a back separate from the seat, and where a back support, not shown, is to be secured to the flange 36 of angle piece 12. In this latter event, a part for the back support is first secured to flange 36 before the two pieces are welded to the chair leg bights.

We claim:

1. A bracket for securing the bights of generally U shape legs beneath a generally horizontal support, comprising,

a first piece formed of a flat elongate strip of metal consisting of an intermediate section having at each end an upwardly extending end wall and a tongue ex tending outwardly therefrom, means on said tongues for securing the same to said horizontal support, a second piece formed of a flat elongate strip of metal consisting of an intermediate section having at each end a downwardly extending end wall with a tongue extending outwardly therefrom and a downwardly extending flange coextensive with said intermediate section,

the intermediate section of the second piece being shorter than the intermediate section of the first piece,

welding means securing the intermediate section of the first and second pieces together in flat surface engagement,

the tongues on the second piece and the outer end portions of the intermediate section being vertically spaced for receiving the chair leg bights therebetween,

and means for securing said flange to the end walls of the second piece.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1, the means for securing the flange to the end walls of the second piece comprising in-turned tabs on opposite end walls of said flange, said tabs being in face engagement with the last-named end walls,

and weld means connecting said tabs with the lastnamed end walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,098,752 11/1937 Miller 52-721 Silverman 297451 Simpkins 248188 Mohr 248188 Jenniges et a1 297239 Foster et a1 297445 FRANCIS K. ZUGEL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

2,999,662 9/1961 Lappin et a1 248-488 10 248-188.1; 297-445, 451 

